OFFICIAL 2005 Yardsale Thread

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evilmax17

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Yard Sale season is in full swing now that it's officialy Summer! Try to get out around your town at least once, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Don't think things like "I'll never find anything" or "Those guys are just lucky", because you too can get in on the fun!

Here are a few tips to get you started:

Yard Sale tips (thanks to all contributors)

-Expect to be out from 8-1 ish.

-If you hate getting up early, and if you have a hard time going to bed before midnight then go to CVS and pick yourself up some Simply Sleep (non-prescription, made by Tylenol, relatively cheap, completely safe/non-addictive and knocks you out).

-Definately do Saturday, with optional Sunday or Friday (if you don't work or go to school). Saturday is the main day though.

-Find websites for all of the news papers in your area (or get the papers themselves). Compile a list of yardsales-of-interest.

-More on the above point: Look for buzzwords like "Toys", "Games", and "Multi-Family" to help your chances. Alot of the time you'll see multi-family or community yardsales, which are a bunch of sales in one location.

-After you compile your list (anywhere from 20-40 sales), go to mapquest or yahoo maps and get directions from place to place. Plan out a route for the day.

-If you don't like the list method, then you can try driving around your surrounding towns looking for signs and sales. Try to stay in suburban areas (they usually have the best stuff).

-Never just "drive by". Most of the time, games are in boxes and aren't visible from the car.

-Try to get somebody to go with you, so you can have a driver and a navigator.

-Always have a bunch of 1's, some 5's, a bunch of quarters, and a checkbook (if you find a huge score).

-Cash in Face technique (CIF) If someone gives you a price on something that's not what you're wiling to pay. Walk around and look a little more get the cash ready that you're willing to pay and stick it in the persons face and say will you take (whatever price) for it? Sometimes when the cash is in their face, they opt to snatch up your offer. (Use at your discretion)

-(More on the above tip) The cash in face method is basically lowballing them - and as a tactic you basically hold out the money - and when they see the money being offered to them *held out as close to their face as possible without being rude about it* they'll usually accept. For example, if they're asking $10 and you offer them $5 while holding out a $5 dollar bill, their instincts might tell them to just take the money that they can physically see.

-(More on the above tip) When using the Cash in Face technique, group your bills together in your pocket or pockets. I usually put 5 or 6 fives folded in half and 20 singles folded in half in one pocket. This allows me to easily prepare with one hand my cash in face offer. Although the CIF technique is not always a success the element of suprise I beleive is the catalyst behind many successful transactions.

-Never give up. Most of the time you'll find shit at 38/40 sales and gold at 2/40. You never know what you'll find and when you'll find it, it's 100% random with no rhyme or reason.

-Always haggle, and always give an offer (the worst they can say is "no"). Also keep in mind what you would be willing to pay, but don't be too frugal.

-Always have the money to pay for your stuff with you. If you say "I'll come back and pay later", you could lose the sale!

-If something isn't marked, don't make the first offer. Always ask them what they want before you offer them anything!

-It doesn't hurt to be visibly nice when walking up to a sale. You never know if they'll have anything, and people are less willing to cut you a deal if they don't like you.

-Examine your items carefully before purchase - most cart games tend to need a serious cleaning

-If items do not have a price and you have to ask how much and the person hesitates with a response - just blurt out I'll give you a dollar or whatever.

-Multpile item purchases tend to get bigger discounts

-Always look in boxes - even boxes that look like they might not contain games and stuff.

-If you don't see any games or games stuff, always ask "Do you have any videogames" For whatever strange reason you tend to see a lot of spaghetti strainers and pie plates while the real goods are left inside. I think the majority of these sales are put together by women, and most of them don't even thing about busting out hubbies old video games

-Some people are insanely unreasonable and really believe some one will buy 10 yard fight for $5

-Some people are extremely knowledgable on the value of their stuff and will be fair but not stupid

-Some people will price things so reasonably you may just want to pay tha asking price because it really is a bargain

-Some people are stupid and really want to get rid of those old boxes of games etc. The thought of making $20 or $30 on a box of stuff or multiple items appeals to them much more then " will you take a quarter on this salt shaker?" (these are the kind of people I like)

-Remember the deals are out there and more often then not you need to be patient. You may not score anything one week but score multiple items the next

-(At your discretion) Sometimes you can knock a few bucks off of their asking price by pointing out the flaws of what you're buying (if a system is missing its hookups, for example).

-If you find yourself with a few dirty systems or cartridges, pick up a box of Mr. Clean's Magic Erasers. These things are cheap, ridiculously effective, quick, leave no residue, and don't damage what you're cleaning. They'll take off dirt, grime, marker, sticker glue, pretty much anything you can think of. You owe it to yourself to give these a try, you'll be impressed.

-It's a good idea to bring along USPS Postal Bins in your car. They are durable, free, and you can put stuff in them to keep it from rolling around in the back of your car (which often damages items). It will also make it easier to carry all your finds inside if you purchase a lot. If you find any cotton tshirts free or cheap, keep some in your trunk in the box to wrap glass or fragile items.

-If you have a cell phone, and you're spending a lot on your bill each month, look into getting a PDA style phone such as a T-Mobile Sidekick II. For $60 a month, I get 1000 minutes and unlimited Data plan. The phone is an invalueable research tool, and has saved me from making big mistakes while out on the hunt, and convinced me to purchase things I would have otherwise left at the Yard Sale or Thrift Store.

-It's always a good idea to keep some batteries and spare games in your car, so that you can test portable systems when you find them (GB/GG/GBA). Just make sure you take them with you at the end of the day if you intend to park your car in the hot sun! :)

-You might encounter some unspeakably filthy items in your travels, and with this in mind, it can be beneficial to keep a box of Baby Wipes or a bottle of Hand Sanitizer with you in your car. You never know what you're touching! Also, make sure and wash your hands as soon as you get into your house.

-If you're short on Yard Saling funds, you might fix the problem by recycling some cans and bottles! A lot of the finds out there are dirt-cheap to begin with, and if you (or your friends/family) drink a lot of soda, you could easily kill two birds with one stone.

- Go to different areas several weekends in a row to learn good areas (sales common and with okay stuff).

- ALWAYS go to sales the weekend after the previous weekend was rained out. The sales planned for the previous weekend often get cancelled and rescheduled for the nice weather weekend. This means the number of sales are more numberous (i.e. easier to find stuff as it can't "all" be picked over).

- Get up early and go. Get to the areas you go about the time (if not right before) the sun comes up. Yes, the early bird does get the worm. Why go to a sale at 9am when someone else got there at 7am and purchased the stuff you would want. Granted, you can get lucky from time to time at sales later in the day, but most often it's the first one there who gets it.

- TAKE CASH. Go the ATM the week before you go to sales to have cash on hand. Break some of the larger bills at a grocery/convienant store. Having some smaller bills on hand makes it easier to purchase smaller items quick and get to the next sale (especially in the early part of the day with the people at the sale may not have change too).

- (At your discretion) It doesn't hurt to ask "What's your best price on..." It comes across MUCH more polite than "I'll give you $5 for this."

- Ask if the people at the sale have anything of the type you are looking for. Even if they don't have it out, they may just not have got to it, or didn't think someone would be looking for the stuff.

- Drive defensively. Some people that go to sales are IDIOTS when it comes to the way they drive. We saw a lady driving up a street with only enough room for 1 car that blocked 13 cars. She had to back up. But, instead of just backing up and over to the curb, she backed up INTO the connecting lane and blocked it's traffic. Let's just say some people lose their minds when going to sales.

- When at a sale, if you are interested in something, then pick it up and hold it. Do no put it down unless you are sure you do not want it. Someone else may be just waiting for you to put it down and "think" about it (while they pick it up and buy it).

-Unless you are in a really good mood, and not hurting for time NEVER take your grandmother. I've seen mine spend an hour at one sale that had only five boxes of dishes and she didn't buy a thing!

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OP:

Well, moiety and I decided that this year, we would start checking the yardsales around our neighborhood. We went out for the first time ever today, and checked out 4 yardsales. Here's what we found.




1 N64 System w/ Ram Expansion Pack + hookups (RF hookups though :whistle2:? )
3 official controllers
1 memory card
Paid: $5



1 NES (no hookups)
1 original gray Zapper
3 empty cases
Paid: $2



1 Resident Evil (GCN) complete
Paid: $2

So $9 total for the day, not too bad for our first outing. Post your own finds for the rest of the season!
 
I find garage/yard sales all over the place all the time but there is NEVER any game related stuff. I found "Vulgar Display Of Power" by Pantera for 50 cents once, and also saw a copy for Madden '97.. for $5.
 
great deal... whenever I jog past sales in my neighborhood I never see and game stuff out...

but I found out Mobile is having "Mobile's Biggest Garage Sale" next saturday at the fairgrounds, so I am going to HAVE to check that out next Saturday, hope there are plenty of decent vendors

I checked out my Flea Market.. the "deals" there were so awful I could do nothing but shake my head
 
[quote name='zman73']great deal... whenever I jog past sales in my neighborhood I never see and game stuff out...[/QUOTE]

Here's a tip: It never hurts to ask.
 
Nice finds OP. A console with no hookups can be a pain in the ass, but that price was right.

I found a Fable and an Oddworld Stranger's Wrath strat guide for $0.50 each. And a copy of Friday (Ice Cube) on DVD for $1. Kind of a blah yard sale day for me. The lady with the Friday DVD kept talking to people about her son (so I assume the DVD was his) and I kept picturing him finding out Mom sold it for $1 and saying something like "Mom, that's crackhead prices!" :)

Last wekend I got two big bags of books (about 60 total) for $10. Haven't seen any video game systems for a few weeks now.
 
Very disappointing day today. We went to 8 yardsales today, but there wasn't much anywhere. Half of the yardsales consisted of a small table with less than a dozen items on it (and we got there at the very beginning). 2 yardsales were moving sales, and we had to actually go into the peoples' houses to look around. But yeah, we found one thing at this junky dump-esque yardsale. They also had a sealed Hyper-Blade for PC, but I already had it (and the $1 building-19 sticker was still on it.


1 Pac-Man board game (missing the dots :sad: )
Paid: 50 cents

(As much fun as the arcade game of the same name!)
 
Halfway decent pickup for me today, picked up a working game gear, with batteries included (no AC adapter though) with the first GG sonic game for 5 bucks, and got some free N64 instruction manuals for a few games as well
 
Really good day for us today. It was rainy and crappy, but everyone still had their yardsales.


1 Lego System Mummy's Tomb (5958)
1 Lego Bionicle EXO-TOA (8557)
Paid: $3


1 Scotland Yard board game (Mint, Complete)
Paid: $1


1 Yellow Gameboy Color (Needs to be cleaned, but working)
1 Snorlax beanie
Paid: $1


1 The Apprentice Season 1 DVD Box Set (cover says "You're Fired" when you open it, inside is STILL SEALED)
Paid: $1
 
We were supposed to hit 18 yardsales, but at the end of the day the total was 16. We found 1 that wasn't advertised, and 3 of the advertised ones were cancelled. Given that we actually attended 16 yardsales, it was a fairly dissapointing day. We have some good stories though, but I'll let moiety post those.



1 Super Scope 6 with both manuals (No gun though :cry: )
1 empty NES game case
Paid: 50 cents


1 Dinosaurs "Endangered Species" volume 3 VHS
Paid: 50 cents

The yardsale that had the Super Scope 6 game also had a few crappy-but-complete Genesis games (Tom and Jerry was one I remember), marked at 4 bucks each. Some cart-only Gameboy games marked 2 apiece, a teal GBC marked 8, and Fantavision (PS2) marked 8. It was roughly 8:30AM, so it was too early in the day to really haggle them down from their already-high prices. SS6 was marked as 2 but he took what I offered. It was the first yardsale we went to today, and had I known that we wouldn'tve found much else, I probably would've lowballed him on some other stuff. Ah well, no big loss.
 
Not the best day, but one yardsale in particular really pissed us off.

A woman and her husband, huge home, 2 2-car garages, each filled with stuff. One was clearly "yardsale" items: kid toys, opened boxes of Legos (of interest to me), board games, etc. The other overflowing with toys, but here's the catch. Multiple quantities of each item - all with TRU green stickers. Ahem, 90% off sale!? She had things like unopened boxes of Legos (overpriced for a "yardsale"), third party GBA accessories, Beyblade stuff, crappy plastic toys and rubber balls, Play-Doh, and other various/crappy toys. It was like walking into a mini-store...a mini TRU store. :whistle2:k

She left all the green stickers on, and then added her own price sticker. So you'd see an item marked $4.99 from TRU, she'd have a $2 sticker on it, but we knew she paid only .50.

So I know she's not going to budge on the unopened Legos (and they were pretty crappy sets, too, except for one Star Wars set with no box). So I ask her how much for the 4 ripped opened (I mean RIPPED) boxes of Legos (her son's apparently). She admits to me she doesn't think all the pieces are there, and she wants 6 bucks. Now, this is a yardsale. They weren't the best sets, the boxes were ripped up and the pieces weren't all there. I tried to get her down to 3, and she wouldn't go lower than 5. Eh, fine. I passed.

I'm not at all mad that she wouldn't give it to me for what I wanted, because I'll find something better later on. You get what you can and that's that. But at that point, I didn't want to give her any of my money because we knew what she was: a hoarder looking to profit. I mean, this was hoarding at its finest. Everything was sealed - TRU tags still on - then her tags. And people will look and say, "Wow she paid 5 bucks and is only charging 2!" I don't know how anyone could NOT be suspicious! It was SO SO obvious that she was looking for profit. And that's not what yardsales are for.

And just to add, I had called her last night to find out what she had (she had listed "Gameboy" in the ad). That's when she told me how she had originally wanted to open up an eBay store to sell all the "extra toys laying around. We just gotta get rid of all the clutter", but didn't have time. Well believe me, when I saw that garage - those weren't toys just "laying around" her house. And then just the fact she wouldn't budge on the old Lego sets - it just disgusted me.
 
[quote name='evilmax17']Very disappointing day today. We went to 8 yardsales today, but there wasn't much anywhere. Half of the yardsales consisted of a small table with less than a dozen items on it (and we got there at the very beginning). 2 yardsales were moving sales, and we had to actually go into the peoples' houses to look around. But yeah, we found one thing at this junky dump-esque yardsale. They also had a sealed Hyper-Blade for PC, but I already had it (and the $1 building-19 sticker was still on it.


1 Pac-Man board game (missing the dots :sad: )
Paid: 50 cents

(As much fun as the arcade game of the same name!)[/QUOTE]

Hey, I think I've got one of those lying around somewhere! :D The 'dots' are simply 4 yellow marbles and a bunch of white ones. You shouldn't have any trouble getting replacements, probably.
 
Here's my garage sale finds so far:

JVC X'EYE system (plays Genesis, SegaCD) $10 with games



RCA 5 Disc DVD Player $10

I know I need to work on all those cables.

Panzer Dragoon Orta Guide $5
I got this off of ebay for $1.50 plus $3.50 in shipping. I just wanted to show this.


The Dig $2 (with stratey guide)
An old LucasArts adventure game

It also came with a phone card you could use for the help line. I wonder if that is still good?

Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition $3


I also have found:
Diablo 2
Netgear hub $1
D-Link network card $1

I'm still hoping I can find a sega staturn or NES or SNES. I really want some of those older systems. I think I've done pretty well so far.
 

2 big bins of "legos"* + misc. toys
1 Gengar plushie
Paid: $3.50


1 TMNT1 VHS
1 TMNT2 VHS
1 TMNT3 VHS
Paid: $1


1 Star Wars VHS
1 Empire Strikes Back VHS
1 Return of the Jedi VHS
(All in surprisingly good shape)
Paid: $1

---------------------------------------------------
*Upon getting home, we found out that the bins were 95% Tyco Mega Blox. We got burned.

So today was a weird day. We went to 39 yardsales, and bought things at 3 of them. We found ALOT more that we would buy, but were way too overpriced (and the sellers weren't willing to budge much).

What we saw-

Place 1:
Had a bunch of PS2 games ranging from $8 - $20. Nothing stellar.
Bunch of crappy PS1 games for $4 - $10 a piece.
Among them was a Non-GH Metal Gear Solid, with no manual, and 'meh' disks. He wanted $6.
A bunch of PC games, one of which being Simpsons Cartoon Studio, marked $4.

I offered him a buck for Simpsons, to which he said "Well, all the prices marked are what I could get from this flea market I go to. I know they're a little high for a yardsales, but that's the prices I'm asking." I HATE when people say stuff like this, or "They go for this much on ebay." So sell them on ebay!


Place 2:
Was a 2 family sale on 1 driveway. One side was middle-aged women, and the other side was a middleage woman and her bulldog, barrelchested, visibily stubborn husband.

The first side had 10 or so PS2 games, marked 8 each. The side with the bulldog-man had a dirty first-gen NES (gray gun), with ~10 games all in plastic cases. They were asking $15 for the console, and $3 for the "tapes". I was taken aback when she told me these (IMHO) rediculous prices. When I offered her $10 for the system and games, the husband gave a sarcastic laugh and an "No. No way."

Now, we've seen many different types of people on our rounds this summer. There's the one type, mentioned above, who thinks they can get higher prices on ebay, but are inexplicably trying to get the same prices at a yardsale.

These people, however, are just dumb. I'm pretty sure that this guy thought to himself "I paid $100 for this, and $50 each for these games. I'm already getting ripped off enough offering them for $15 and $3." What he doesn't realize is that things depreciate in value, regardless of what you paid for them.

Place 3:
Had a few random ps1 and ps2 games. Ps2 games were marked $2-$4, but it all they had was Tony Hawk 3, Smuggler's Run, and something else.

They also had 2 TMNT story books, and a Ghostbusters story book. I was almost going to buy them, but decided against it.

Place 4:
This lady had 3 medium size Ziplock bags with legos in them, but she was asking $5 a bag! Especially after we had already snagged the big bins for cheap (well, we thought they were legos at the time), there was no way we were paying those rediculous prices. She offered $12 to take them all, but please. $5 for a medium-sized Ziplock bag of legos? That won't sell, no way. We tried to buy this at noon by the way, and she was already on her second day.

----------------------------------------------------------

So yeah, kind of a frustrating day. We found a lot of good stuff, and a surprising amount of videogames, but they were all being sold by stubborn people with unrealistic prices. Feh.

Hopefully next week I'll find that ever-elusive Neo Geo AES :roll: . The search, nay, the quest will continue next week.

Good luck to all!
 
[quote name='erehwon']Here's my garage sale finds so far:

JVC X'EYE system (plays Genesis, SegaCD) $10 with games

[/QUOTE]

Wow, excellent find! What were they originally asking?
 
They were asking $10. I thought that was a good deal for the system, with box and the original packaging, and the games. Now I need to find some better games for it.

I just really want to find a Saturn, NES, and SNES.

Does anyone here actually remember ever seeing this on sale in stores? I had never seen it till now.
 
new124.jpg.w180h121.jpg


colecovision system. atari game system (case only) and 28 games for $5.00
Sega game genie and Heavy Nova cart only - $2.00
pair of knight staues - $2.00
 
colecovision system. atari game system (case only) and 28 games for $5.00
Sega game genie and Heavy Nova cart only - $2.00
pair of knight staues - $2.00
 
[quote name='snotknocker']colecovision system. atari game system (case only) and 28 games for $5.00
Sega game genie and Heavy Nova cart only - $2.00
pair of knight staues - $2.00[/QUOTE]

Wowza. What were they originally asking on the Coleco and games? Nice pickup!
 
[quote name='evilmax17']Wowza. What were they originally asking on the Coleco and games? Nice pickup![/QUOTE]

I asked the guy what he wanted for it cause the CV was in the Atari case w/ the games underneath with all the wires and what not on top. He looked at me in a dumb founded fashion and was like "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" so i immediately knew he did'nt have a price in mind so i said I'll give you $5.00 and he was like OK.

I hooked it up and it works perfect. Contacts on the games needed cleaning though
 
Went to like 20 yardsales today, found 1 with games. Only thing I picked up was a snes game genie for 2 bucks, they had a couple ps1 games too and a nba live for ps2. Were asking 3 bucks for a copy of Madden 2001? for ps1. Crazy people.
 
jusy played donkey kong and frogger on my CV for the first time in over 20 years. funny i can't remember what happened to my original system. But i can remember how cool it was back when it first came out. If my memory serves me correct. i think I payed $175 for it new in 1983????
 
dang, i miss garage sailing.

I seem to always find great records. I found first press coleman hawkins and lester young, also the best was a collection of promo LPs of Ray Charles with the radio checklist and everything.

video game related, the best i ever got was a gameboy color with killer instinct.
 
5/15/05 - picked up NES Advantage for $1 and Rush Chronicles (2CD's) for $2. To my suprise when I got home and was looking at the CD booklet in the middle of it was another CD - Stevie Ray Vaughn - Greatest Hits - All the CD's look like they were never used

nesvan.jpg.w300h200.jpg
 
[quote name='weimerwanger']How do you guys go about finding 16 or 30 yardsales in one day? Do you just look em up in the newspaper?[/QUOTE]

Yeah. Check to see if your local newspaper has a website, and if they have a section for yardsales. I copy/paste the whole list of all of the sales around me, and then we look at the descriptions and pick what we're going too. After about an hour of Mapquest, we have a whole route picked out for the day.
 
Is it usually only early saturday and sunday? Thats how it was back in the keys but I imagine people may yardsale on more days here in Orlando.
 
[quote name='weimerwanger']Is it usually only early saturday and sunday? Thats how it was back in the keys but I imagine people may yardsale on more days here in Orlando.[/QUOTE]

Mostly (we only go out on Saturday).

You'll see few people that have their YS on Fri+Sat or Sat+Sun (sometimes even all three). Your best bet is to start at 8AM on Saturday, as most of these sales wrap themselves up around noon.
 
[quote name='evilmax17']Mostly (we only go out on Saturday).

You'll see few people that have their YS on Fri+Sat or Sat+Sun (sometimes even all three). Your best bet is to start at 8AM on Saturday, as most of these sales wrap themselves up around noon.[/QUOTE]

Wow. 8 Am is almost too much to ask, in spite of such great finds.
 
[quote name='snotknocker']I live in a pretty densely populated area and just usually drive around looking for signs posted on telephone poles and such. but like evilmax said 8AM is the prime time to start out on your quest. Last week i missed out on a major score cause I got a late start. If you care to read about that tragedy here's the link http://cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50998[/QUOTE]

Wow, what a bummer, I'd be depressed for a long time if that happened to me.
 
My haul today:
Virtual Boy system (Great condition, w/manual and all accessories, just missing the box) - $20
9 Virtual Boy games:
3-D Tetris
Vertical Force
Warioland
Nester's Funky Bowling
Mario Clash
Panic Bomber
Galactic Pinball
Red Alarm
Mario's Tennis
$3 each. All games were complete, except for Mario's Tennis, which had the cart and manual but no box.

Pretty good deal, right?
 
I can never find anything good at the garage sales around my house, because it is normally all old people. However, I have found a complete set of Calvin and Hobbes books that I bought for $5.
 
Here is what I've gotten so far this weekend.

The first three volumes of the MGS comic for $1.25




TIE Fighter for $1 (floppy version though)


John Williams CD $2 & Earthwork Jim for Genesis $.5


My Big find - Radeon 9700 Pro for $40 (sorry for the bad pic of the card)



It was marked $50. All I had was $40 and he took it. My dad took a look at the card and said it had hardly been used. I also picked up those two boxes for storing playstation games. I also passed on a PC copy of FFVII for $10. I already had the playstation version and the seller didn't want to lower the price any. I would have only gotten it for collecting reasons.

I still want to find a Sega Saturn. Of the systems, all I've seen is the Genesis and the Playstation. I saw at least four of each of those. The NES and SNES are really becoming hard to find too.
 
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